Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 13 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Biden administration to

probe claim against SE Asian

assemblers of solar components

THE US Commerce Department on March 28 issued, “For years, Chinese solar producers have
ASIA announced a probe into solar panels imported refused to fairly price their products in the US
from four Southeast Asian countries over the and have gone to significant lengths to continue
possibility that the panels are circumvent- undercutting American manufacturers and
ing tariffs imposed to protect domestic US workers by establishing circumventing opera-
manufacturing. tions in countries not covered by those duties.
The government’s move has been attacked by We are grateful Commerce officials recognised
major panel installers as devastating the indus- the need to investigate this pervasive backdoor
try by increasing costs and undermining job dumping and how it continues to injure Ameri-
growth. Projects could be delayed and jobs lost can solar producers. Fair trade and enforcement
even while the case is being decided, says trade of our trade laws are essential to rebuilding the
groups representing most of the US solar indus- American solar supply chain and making Solar
try, including panel installers. in America again.”
The probe may lead to an expansion to Solar trade groups were unhappy. “This
Southeast Asia of Obama-era tariffs on Chinese misstep will have a devastating impact on the
imports retroactive to March 28, They are cur- US solar market at a time when solar prices are
rently as high as 250%. climbing, and project delays and cancellations
The complaint alleged that panels in question, are adding up,” said Solar Energy Industry Asso-
assembled by companies in Cambodia, Malay- ciation president Abigail Ross Hopper. “The
sia, Thailand and Vietnam, thus illegally evade solar industry is still reeling from a similar tariff
US regulations preventing Chinese imports. petition that surfaced last year. The mere threat
The four countries produce some 80% of of tariffs altered the industry’s growth trajectory
solar modules expected to be imported into the and is one of the reasons why we’re now expect-
US in 2022, said the Wall Street Journal. ing a 19% decline in near-term solar forecasts.
The Commerce Department is responding to Taking up this case will have a chilling effect on
a petition from a California manufacturer, Auxin the solar industry.”
Solar. The American Clean Power Association
The petition alleged that the panels are assem- (ACP) was equally unhappy, expressing “pro-
bled from Chinese parts and/or by China-owned found disappointment”. ACP’s CEO Heather
companies and thus violate anti-dumping and Zichal, White House energy adviser under Pres-
countervailing tariffs on Chinese imports. ident Barack Obama, said: “The Department
This petition is important because of the of Commerce’s decision signals that the Biden
fast-growing solar industry and how much it is Administration’s talk of supporting solar energy
dominated by China. The US industry is strug- is empty rhetoric. If its commitment to a clean
gling against cheap imports as well as price rises energy future is real, the Administration will
and supply chain bottlenecks. The dispute pits reverse this decision immediately. America’s
two goals of the Biden administration against solar workers and the clean energy community
each other. The administration wants a robust are watching and will remember. Overnight, the
US solar sector and also as fast a reduction in Commerce Department ignored precedent and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as possible. subsequently drove a stake through the heart of
Auxin Solar’s CEO Mamun Rashid said, planned solar projects and choked off up to 80%
after the Commerce Department decision was of the solar panel supply to the US. It must fix

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 30•March•2022